1. Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to control of an information processing apparatus, such as an image forming apparatus, having a function of automatically shutting down if a certain condition is satisfied.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when an operation for forming an image cannot be executed due to occurrence of an abnormality, a user of an existing image forming apparatus is informed of the abnormality through an error code or the like displayed on an operation unit. When the error code has been displayed on the operation unit, usually a service person is called to take necessary measures such as repairs to the image forming apparatus.
However, a service person need not necessarily be called even if an abnormality has occurred in the image forming apparatus and an error code has been displayed. For example, this holds when one of a plurality of central processing units (CPUs), which are usually included in the image forming apparatus to control components, has unexpectedly hung up. In this case, the hang-up is removed by rebooting the image forming apparatus, and the operation for forming an image can be performed again. When reboot of the image forming apparatus is only rebooted, a service person need not necessarily be called.
Therefore, when a particular type of abnormality that can be removed by rebooting the image forming apparatus has been detected, the image forming apparatus is automatically rebooted to remove the abnormality. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-183228, an image forming apparatus that is automatically rebooted when a certain period of time has elapsed since occurrence of an abnormality is proposed.
In recent years, image forming apparatuses having an automatic shutdown function have been developed. The automatic shutdown function is a function of automatically turning off an image forming apparatus to save power when, for example, a user has not used the image forming apparatus for a certain period of time. If the above-described operation for automatically rebooting an image forming apparatus is performed when an abnormality has occurred in such an image forming apparatus having the automatic shutdown function, the following problem arises.
Here, assume a case in which an abnormality occurs in an image forming apparatus when the image forming apparatus will soon be shut down by the automatic shutdown function, and the image forming apparatus is automatically rebooted. That is, assume a case in which the operation for automatically rebooting the image forming apparatus is performed immediately before the automatic shutdown function operates.
In this case, for example, immediately after the image forming apparatus is automatically rebooted, the automatic shutdown function operates to turn off the image forming apparatus. That is, even when, as a result of the reboot, the image forming apparatus has recovered to a state in which the operation for forming an image can again be performed, the image forming apparatus is immediately turned off by the automatic shutdown function, thereby preventing the image forming apparatus from performing the operation for forming an image or the like.
In addition, if the image forming apparatus is shut down by the automatic shutdown function, the same result as when the image forming apparatus has been rebooted is obtained when the user later turns on the image forming apparatus again. That is, the same result as that obtained by reboot is obtained if the automatic shutdown function operates. In this case, the above-described automatic reboot need not necessarily be performed even if an error has occurred. In addition, it is not desirable in terms of power consumption and noise to reboot the image forming apparatus more often than necessary.
In addition, the same situation as that posed when the image forming apparatus is rebooted upon occurrence of an error arises when, for example, the image forming apparatus is automatically rebooted after a program is automatically updated or when the image forming apparatus needs to be rebooted in order to apply a change made to a setting (for example, when an Internet Protocol (IP) address has been changed).